Ubiquitous voice messaging

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for providing ubiquitous and configurable communications between users is provided. Ubiquity and other features are provided using a common identifier linking two or more users. In one embodiment, a common identifier is automatically provided when call forwarding is directed to a designated phone number. In another embodiment, a user can cause a common identifier to be created linking the user with a user of their choice by sending a text message to a designated address. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the disclosure contained herein. This Abstract is submitted with the explicit understanding that it will not be used to interpret or to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/247,947, filed Sep. 28, 2011, which is a divisional of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/358,130, filed Jan. 22, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No.8,126,437, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application61/023,293, filed Jan. 24, 2008. All of the above-referencedapplications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of communications,and more specifically, to providing more ubiquitous and flexiblemulti-mode communications between mobile communications devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Contemporary mobile communications devices typically incorporatemultiple communications modalities into a single device. In addition totraditional voice communications service, current mobile phonestypically also provide voicemail, Short Message Service (SMS or“texting”), Email, call forwarding, and Internet connectivity. Of these,SMS has, because of its unobtrusive and flexible nature, become thefastest growing and most ubiquitous mode of communication. For manyusers, texting via the SMS protocol is preferred over traditional voicecommunication. One of the advantages of SMS texting, in addition tobeing less obtrusive, is that a text message is much more robust againstthe various factors that can disrupt live voice communications. For thisreason, a text message is often used as an invitation to participate ina live voice call at some later, more convenient time and location.Newer devices such as the Apple iPhone™ have tended to blur thedistinction between text and voicemail with features such as “visualvoicemail.” However, many mobile phone users have been slow to adopttexting, referring instead to attempt a voice call as the defaultcommunication method. When, for various reasons, a voice call cannot becompleted, the caller typically either hangs up or leaves a voicemailthat may not become available to the recipient until much later. Anotherlimitation of currently implemented voicemail occurs when a caller wouldlike to be able to deliver a single voicemail to multiple recipientsquickly and reliably.

For these and other reasons, there still remains a need to furtherintegrate, automate, and simplify the various communications modes. Inparticular, there is a need to leverage the ubiquity of text messagingto enhance the effectiveness of live voice and voicemail modes ofcommunications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments include providing an enhanced phone service thatfacilitates alternative communication modes in the event of anunanswered phone call. These enhanced phone services includeestablishing a common number linking the caller and recipient that canbe used by both parties to avail themselves of other enhanced featuresprovided by the system. In some embodiments, the invention includesreceiving calls that are automatically forwarded to a system-linkedphone number when a service subscriber recipient does not answer. Callforwarding and caller ID are services provided by virtually all phoneservice providers, so this exemplary embodiment is available tovirtually all phone users. In order to carry out this particularembodiment, a subscriber programs their phone to redirect incoming phonecalls to a phone number provided by the service of the exemplaryembodiment. When a redirected call is received, the service links thesubscriber and caller's phone numbers with a common identifier phonenumber, which provides additional utility for both caller andsubscriber/recipient as will be elaborated upon below. The service thenmay send text messages to the caller and subscriber recipient informingthem of the missed call and the common identifier number, therebyallowing the parties various options and opportunities to communicateusing voicemail, text messages, or by connecting them directly by realtime voice communication.

To better understand the functioning of this and other embodiments, someexplanation of the way the common identifiers are utilized will bedescribed. In some embodiments, features provided by the invention areaccessed using phone numbers assigned by the service in lieu of dialinga recipient's phone directly. The system creates an association betweena particular common identifier and a subscriber phone number. The systemfurther creates an association between the common identifier and anotheruser's (or users') phone number(s). These associations are stored in adatabase maintained by the system. Each subscriber phone number andcommon identifier combination is unique. The common identifier willtypically be a ten-digit phone number, although other types of commonidentifiers such as Email addresses or URL's are contemplated. Takingthe example of a common identifier as a phone number, when a commonphone number provided by the service is called, the call is routedthrough the service, which can then provide a variety of responsesassociated with that particular user/common identifier phone numbercombination. Thus, the service can allow the subscriber to determinecertain aspects of how a call to that particular common number iscarried out. In addition to simply connecting the subscriber directlywith the other user or users associated with that particular commonnumber, other options may also be offered such as leaving a voicemessage or sending a text message to the recipient advising them theyhave voicemail. Common numbers may also be selected to provide localaccess, thereby avoiding toll charges that might accrue when calling therecipient directly. It may be advantageous to assign different commonidentifiers linking two or more users to each user. This may ease theproblem of assigning unique common identifiers to each user. This couldbecome problematic, for example, where the number of common identifiersalready assigned to two users is large compared to the number ofavailable common identifiers, in which case there may be no remainingcommon identifiers unique to both parties. The problem only compoundswhen a user wants to associate several parties with a common identifier.Note that assigning separate common identifiers to each user does notincrease the total number of common identifiers required by the system,which need be no greater than the maximum personal phone book of eachuser. Using separate common identifiers for each user also allows thesystem to assign local or convenient common identifiers to each user.This can be especially useful if the two users reside in differentcalling zones or different countries. Many other advantageous featuresare contemplated as will be enumerated below.

The number of common identifiers required by the system is not nearly aslarge as might be imagined. In fact, the minimum number of commonidentifiers required is only as large as the largest phone book of anindividual subscriber. For example, if the service were to supportpersonal phone books with up to 1000 entries, then 1000 commonidentifier phone numbers would suffice to service an unlimited number ofsubscribers. This is because, even if one subscriber is associated withall 1000 common phone numbers, these same common phone numbers can alsobe associated with an unlimited number of other users because eachsubscriber number, common number combination is unique and can therebybe uniquely identified by the system. Thus, a single service-providednumber can be used by many subscribers, since the phone number of eachparticipant is a unique identifier that can be recognized by the systemand handled accordingly. As explained above, it may be advantageous toassign different common identifiers to each user for which the systemestablishes an association. For example, the system may assign user “A”one system-assigned ten-digit phone number to reach party “B”, while thesystem may assign user “B” the same or a different ten-digit phonenumber to reach party “A”. In a typical embodiment, at least two phonenumbers, the subscriber's and a second party's, are associated withservice-provided common numbers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the present invention taught herein areillustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in thefigures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified block diagram exemplifying a providedcommunication system;

FIG. 2 illustrates a further provided communication system;

FIG. 3 illustrates the flow of a provided method;

FIG. 4 illustrates the flow of an additional provided method;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following paragraphs, the present invention will be described indetail by way of example with reference to the attached drawings. Whilethis invention is capable of embodiment in many different forms, thereis shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specificembodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to beconsidered as an example of the principles of the invention and notintended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown anddescribed. That is, throughout this description, the embodiments andexamples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than aslimitations on the present invention. Descriptions of well knowncomponents, methods and/or processing techniques are omitted so as tonot unnecessarily obscure the invention. As used herein, the “presentinvention” refers to anyone of the embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein, and any equivalents. Furthermore, reference to variousfeature(s) of the “present invention” throughout this document does notmean that all claimed embodiments or methods must include the referencedfeature(s).

Systems, devices, and methods providing enhanced communication servicewith ubiquitous connectivity between users are provided. Subscriber datacomprising their name, phone number, SMS messaging number, Emailaddress, and other useful information may be stored by the system. Oneelement of the system is the use of common identifiers linkingsubscriber and recipient communication devices, such as mobile phones.Common identifiers are advantageously ten-digit phone numbers, althoughother identifiers that provide a communications link, such as an Emailor SMS address or URL, can be utilized. In some embodiments, commonidentifiers may be assigned automatically by the system in response tocertain circumstances as will be described. In other embodiments, one ormore common identifiers may be pre-assigned to a subscriber. In any ofthese scenarios, the user may be a registered subscriber to the service,thereby providing them with additional options, features, and choices.

FIG. 1 is a simplified and abstract block diagram exemplifying acommunication system 10 for originating, storing, managing, anddelivering various forms of data. Communication system 10 includes oneor more communication devices 2 for communicating data with acollector/server 4 over network 8 for subsequent access by recipient'sor recipients' communication device(s) 12. Communication devices 2 areshown connected wirelessly to network 8 by wireless link 6, whereasrecipient communication devices 12 are shown with wired connection 11,although any of these devices may have wireless or wired connections tonetwork 8. Wireless link 6 can be a part of a cellular or wirelessnetwork operating according to any voice and/or data communicationstandard. Network 8 can include any variety of non-wireless transmissionmedia including, without limitation, fiber optic cable, twisted-pairwire, or coaxial cable. Network 8 can also include a combination ofconnected sub-networks; e.g., a cellular network connected to a PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN).

Communication devices 2 include any type of device capable oftransmitting data, which includes voice or other audio content, text orother symbols, images or other graphics, and video content, or anycombination thereof. Data includes messages as well as metadata appendedto or transmitted separately from messages. A message is a collection ofdata formatted to anyone of a variety of message formats. Metadataincludes identifiers (ID's), headers, addresses, footers, or otheradditional information related to the message or its transmission. Insome embodiments, communication device 2 transmits voice messages in thedevice's wireless cellular protocol, such as CDMA direct sequence BPSKor QPSK. In some embodiments, communication device 2 may be anInternet-enabled communication device configured to transmit messagesand data files formatted in the transmission control protocol (TCP) ofthe Internet protocol (IP) suite.

Voice and data files are preferably transmitted as digital data, butover some parts of the system can be transmitted as analog data that maybe converted to digital data at or before the collector/server 4. Forexample, analog voice data from a PSTN may be converted to digital datafor subsequent transmission in a digital cellular network. Communicationdevice 2 thus can be a cellular or PSTN telephone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA) or hybrid thereof, a computer (portable or desktop), aone-way or two-way radio device, such as a pager, or any communicationdevice. Communication devices 2 may be further integrated with otherdevices, such as a camera, camcorder, microphone, or voice recorder, forexample. Communication device 2 is preferably operated locally by asender of the data, but it should be understood that the communicationdevice may be controlled remotely through a communication device userinterface. Although described as a device which sends data,communication devices 2 may also be configured to receive data.Likewise, recipient devices 12 may be configured to send data.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a more detailed embodiment of the invention isillustrated. Communication system 20 includes a sender or senders 30, acommunication device or devices 2, a server system 50, and a recipient40. Sender 30 represents any entity that communicates a message—intendedfor a message recipient—using communication device 2. Sender 30 sendscommunications using communication device 2 in one of many possible waysusing a transmit action. For voice communication, the transmit actionmay include dialing a ten-digit telephone number associated with therecipient to initiate a live voice communication. The transmit actioncan also include other transmit actions, such as pressing a button andspeaking (i.e. “press-to-talk”), taking a photo or video, or touching apad with a stylus. The transmit action may also include entering text,selecting choices from menus, etc. The message recipient can be aperson's communication device, a group of persons' communicationdevices, or a storage location on the server system 50.

Communication device 2 may be configured to transmit sender 30's messagevia a first communications network 70 to a particular, unique address infile storage 57, which is one of a plurality of unique addressesassociated with server system 50. Communication network 70 can includeat least one wireless link. The message can be transmitted along withmetadata, including at least a unique ID of communication device 2.Additional metadata sent with the message can include data representingthe length, urgency, time of transmission, information associated withcall forwarding of the original message, etc. Unique addressesassociated with server system 50 may be directly associated with anaddress or identity of any intended recipient 40. Alternatively, theunique address may be associated with an intended recipient 40 byreference to metadata in the message and related metadata stored in adatabase 56 in server system 50.

Communication device 2 can be a standard telephone, cell phone, Nextelphone with iDEN capability, radio or satellite phone, or wireless PDA orprogrammable phone device running special software, or anothercommunication device. The unique address can be a PSTN ten-digit phonenumber, an iDEN private ID number, an IP address, a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) address, or any other unique address that can be sent bycommunication device 2 and recognized by server system 50. In oneembodiment, server system 50 includes collector 51, data center 55, andserver 59. Collector 51 can include one or more receivers 52, each ofwhich has a unique address that is addressable by communication device2. Receiver 52 receives a message and associated metadata, preferably inthe receiver's native format. Collector 51 also includes processor 54that can reformat a received message and associated metadata into aformat meaningful to the memory structures in data center 55, whichinclude file storage 57 and database 56, and route the message andmetadata to data center 55 over data center network 53 a. Data centernetwork 53 a can include a WAN, LAN, PAN, bus, or any other connectionmedium or communications platform and protocol.

In an alternative embodiment, collector 51 can be interfaced with anelectronic device such as a router, which can be capable of receivingand routing multiple unique addresses. Thus, collector 51 can comprisean interface, such as an IP interface configured to connect collector 51with such an electronic gateway. In such an embodiment, collector 51 canstill comprise a receiver portion configured to receive messages andassociated metadata routed from the electronic gateway, although notnecessarily in the format native to the particular type of communicationdevice 2 used. Accordingly, collector 51 can utilize processor 54 toreformat the received messages and associated metadata into a formatmeaningful to the memory structures in data center 55, and route themessage metadata to data center 55 over data center network 53 a.Database 56 accepts message metadata from collector 51 and parses thereceived data into its components, including the content of the sender'smessage, and the unique communication device identifier.

Server system 50 can also include server 59, which has a Web server 60and a mail server 61. While functionally distinct, Web server 60 andmail server 61 may be a single functionally integrated server. Further,each server may be embodied as a servlet program resident on a hostserver platform. Server 59 can be connected with data center 55 viaserver network 53 b, which like data center network 53 a can alsoinclude a WAN, LAN, PAN, or bus or any other type of communicationsplatform. In fact, server system 50's networks 53 a and 53 b can becombined into a single network connecting collector 51, data center 55,and server 59. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill thatserver 59 will include a processor, memory, and software sufficient tocarry out its functions. Server 59 can further include a farm of serversdistributed among separate server devices or spread geographically viaconnections to server network 53 b. Server 59 receives requests fromeither recipient 40 or sender 30, and responds to requests eitherthrough Web server 60 or mail server 61. Mail server 61 transmitselectronic notifications, via Email or Short Message Service (SMS)protocol, to a requester or recipient of a message. The notification caninclude a hypertext link to Web server 60. Web server 60 receives a copyof a requested message from data center 55, and serves up the copy in aWebpage to the requester or recipient. The Webpage can be formattedaccording to a markup language, such as extensible markup language (XML)or hypertext markup language (HTML), and downloaded through secondcommunications network 72 via any transport technique to a browser orother rendering program.

Sender 30 typically includes a user interface 31 for accessing andretrieving data from server 59 of server system 50 via secondcommunications network 72. Communications networks 70 and 72 may beintegrated into a single network, or may be distinct but connectednetworks. User interface 31 can be a computer, a cellular or landlinephone, a PDA, or any other device capable of receiving data. In oneembodiment, user interface 31 includes a computer and a display, and therequested information is displayed as an HTML or XML page in a Webbrowser program rendered on a display. Although represented in FIG. 2 aspart of one sender block 30, it should be understood that communicationdevice 2 and user interface 31 may be combined in the same device,different devices, or even remotely positioned and/or operated bydifferent persons. Communication device 12 is associated with recipient40, which can be any person or entity for which a sender's message isultimately intended. FIG. 2 shows more than one recipient 40, and itshould be understood that there can be any number of recipients 40.Recipient 40's communication device 12 receives transmissions fromcommunication device 2 via network 70 or 72, which may include wirelessvoice or data transmissions. Recipient 40's communication device 12 maybe a smart cell phone or PDA with features including an Email client 42for receiving notifications from mail server 61, and may also include aWeb browser 44, or other similar software application program, forreceiving and rendering the messages from Web server 60. Messages mayalso be received by recipient 40 from mail server 61. Sender 30's andrecipient 40's communication devices 2 and 12, respectively, may havethe same or different features, so long as they each have at least onemode of communication that can be linked through network 70 and/or 72.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to one embodimentof the present invention wherein a communication device not previouslyassociated with a subscriber/recipient phone can be automaticallyassigned a common identifier. To utilize the features of this embodimentfor the exemplary case of the communication devices being mobile phones,a subscriber/recipient can set their mobile phone to forward callsdirected to their phone to a phone number linked to a server system. Theserver system may be programmed to detect to which subscriber the callwas originally directed, thereby allowing a single redirect phone numberto service multiple subscribers. Alternatively, separate unique redirectphone numbers may be assigned to each subscriber thereby allowing thesystem to indirectly determine to which subscriber the call is directed.This redirect phone number functions in some aspects as an answeringservice, with additional and novel features as will be described. Method80 begins at block 81 where a unique identifier, in this example, aphone number is provided by the server system specifically for receivingcalls forwarded from a subscriber communication device. At block 82, thesystem receives an incoming call that has been redirected from asubscriber's phone to the special redirect phone number provided by thesystem. Then, at block 83, the system determines the caller ID (phonenumber) of the originating caller and the phone number of the recipientto which the call was originally directed and provides a commonidentifier phone number that associates the caller andsubscriber/recipient phone numbers with a common identifier phonenumber. For the reasons previously discussed, the system may provide thesame or different common identifiers to caller and subscriber/recipient.

Most phone systems, especially in North America, embed the caller ID(phone number) of the originating device in the access message asmetadata. Accordingly, the server systems are configured to decode thisunique caller ID. The metadata of forwarded calls may also include theID of the phone number to which the call was originally directed. If theforwarded call includes the ID of the intended receiver phone or device,then the server can be configured to also decode the recipient's phoneID. Alternatively, if the phone system does not attach the uniquerecipient ID with redirected calls, the server can assign differentredirect phone numbers to each recipient/subscriber, thereby allowingthe server to determine indirectly the forwarding device's unique ID. Tomaintain uniqueness, common identifier numbers will preferably be onesnot already associated with the unique device identifiers of the callerand recipient/subscriber. To ensure this uniqueness, the system servermaintains a database of the unique device identifiers of all users, bothsubscriber and non-subscriber, and queries the database to determine aparticular common identifier not already assigned to those devices. Ifthe same common identifier is to be assigned to two or more users, theserver must further select a common identifier that has not already beenassigned to any of the users included in the association. Alternatively,the server may assign any convenient common identifier to each user.

At block 84, the caller can be instructed to leave a voice message,which of course they may either accept or decline. The outgoing messagecan include a typical answering machine type message that has beenprerecorded by the subscriber informing the caller that the subscribercan't answer the phone, but that if they leave a voicemail, the systemwill contact the subscriber by other means. The system can also beconfigured to proceed to the next block even if a voice message is notleft by the caller.

At block 85 the system can be configured to send a message such as anSMS text message to the subscriber recipient informing them that a calldirected to them has been forwarded to the system and that a commonidentifier has been assigned, at least temporarily, which they can callto reply. Additionally, the system message may include other informationsuch as whether a voicemail has been left by the caller that can beaccessed by calling the system-assigned common number, or to provide areply voice message, and/or send a text message to the caller. At block86 the system monitors the common identifier number to see if therecipient responds. This block may optionally include terminating theprocess and deleting the association with the common number it createdat block 82 if, after some reasonable period of time, the number has notbeen called. If, as expected, the subscriber calls the common number,the system then proceeds to block 87 where the system stores the commonidentifier number and its associations with the caller and recipient ina substantially permanent database. At block 88 the system may promptthe subscriber to leave a voicemail for the caller. Other options arealso possible at block 88 such as configuring the common number toreceive text messages, or converting the voice message to text. Therecorded message prompting the recipient may facilitate various optionssuch as: “Press one to leave a reply voicemail. Press two to beconnected directly with the caller. Press three to leave a voice messageto be converted and sent as a text message.” These examples are only byway of illustration and various other options are possible. Finally, atblock 79 the system may send a text message to the caller informing themthat a reply voicemail has been left by the subscriber and informingthem of the common phone number to call to retrieve the voicemail and tobe used to facilitate further communications with the subscriber.

Automatically associating a caller and recipient with a common numberthat is permanently maintained by the system enables additional usefulfeatures beyond facilitating the single attempted call described above.By using the common number instead of the intended recipient's actualphone number, any of various features and services provided by theservice can be enabled. For example, the common number may be a localnumber, thereby avoiding toll charges, even including internationalcalls. As has already been mentioned, it may be advantageous to set uptwo common identifier numbers linking the two parties; for example, thesystem can set up one common phone number that is local to the firstparty and another phone number that is local to the second party.Another feature that may be provided by the system is the option ofpreemptively leaving a voice message when the caller would prefer not tospeak directly to the recipient at that time. Yet another option wouldbe to allow the subscriber to associate multiple recipient phone numberswith a single common number. This feature could be implemented so as toallow the subscriber to leave a single voicemail for multiple parties.The recipients could be informed of the voicemail by various meansincluding sending text messages, by having the service place automatedcalls to each recipient, or by other means or combinations thereof.

Thus use of common identifiers provides a way for a server system toprovide essentially unlimited options for sending and receivingmessages. For example, the system can provide means, such as a Webpage,for specifying the modes for sending and receiving messages. The modescan be further tailored individually for each common identifier. Forexample, a subscriber may prefer to receive only SMS messages from aparticular caller associated with a particular common identifier.Accordingly, the subscriber can indicate this preference using a Webpageprovided for this purpose by the system. In this example, the serversystem would convert any voice calls to the subscriber to text andforward the converted message using the SMS protocol Recognizing thatthe other party associated with the common identifier does not preferSMS text messages, the subscriber can choose to have all messages, textor voice, delivered to that party as voice messages. Other possibilitiesand combinations abound, given the essentially unlimited capacity for aprocessor system to receive message data in one format and convert andtransmit that message data in another format as preferred by each useror required by a user's particular communication device.

Other enhancements to the exemplary embodiment can also be implementedaccording to the teachings of contained herein. For example, addingadditional recipients to the same common identifier provides the furtheradvantage of allowing the caller to send a single voicemail and/or textnotifications to a group of recipients rather than having to contacteach recipient individually. Other enhancements that are enabled by theuse of a common identifier include providing a user the option ofdisclosing their phone number to the recipient, or keeping this andother personal information confidential: i.e., anonymous messaging.These and other preferences could be selected by the user by anyone ofseveral commonly used means such as logging onto a Website provided bythe service, by responding to voice queries with the appropriatekeypad/number response, or by talking directly with a servicerepresentative.

While the invention as described is most useful in terms of mobile phonecommunications, it may also include landline phones as well. Forexample, certain telephone service providers such as Sprint offer textmessaging support for landline phones whereby text messages areconverted to voice and vice versa. Alternatively, the service providedby the present invention could recognize that a recipient's phone numberwas a landline and thus convert the text message to voice. It should benoted that the invention as contemplated requires no correspondingspecialized software to be installed on any of the communication devicesthat use the system, or any changes or additions to the subscriberstelephone service provider, but simply utilizes the basic voice, data,and SMS messaging capabilities found on almost all contemporary mobilephones and other communication devices such as smart phones, PDA's, andeven some landline phones. Additional advanced phone features such asInternet access, visual voicemail, and other new or yet to becontemplated capabilities, while enhancing the convenience and utilityof the service, are not required by the embodiments disclose herein.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating another method according to thepresent invention wherein a system subscriber can use an SMS protocoltext message to cause the system to provide a common identifier linkingthe subscriber and any other party's communication device. The method 90begins at block 91, where the server system provides a unique ID, whichcan be a ten-digit phone number, that has been configured for receivingSMS protocol messages. At block 92, the system receives an SMS messageenumerating a first unique device ID of a subscriber, a second uniquedevice ID, and requesting a common identifier associating or linking thefirst and second unique device ID's. The system may require that the SMSmessage follow a prescribed format to facilitate the system correctlyinterpreting the text, thereby allowing the system to automaticallycarry out the request. Otherwise, the SMS message may need to be readand interpreted by a person associated with the system.

At block 93, the system searches its database to find the subscriber'sunique device ID, including all common identifiers associated with thatsubscriber's device ID. Then, at block 94 the system selects a commonidentifier not already associated with that subscriber's unique deviceID. Finally, at block 95 the system sends a message to the subscriber'scommunication device advising the subscriber that the request has beencarried out and enumerating the system-assigned common identifier. Theadvisory message can also be sent as an SMS message, although thesubscriber may direct the system to send the message in any othersuitable format.

While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described above,it will be understood that the embodiments described are by way ofexample only. Accordingly, the inventions should not be limited based onthe described embodiments. Rather, the scope of the inventions describedherein should only be limited by the claims that follow when understoodin conjunction with the above description and accompanying drawings.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing communications in aserver system, the server system comprising at least one processor, themethod comprising: providing a receiver identifier associated with theserver system for receiving messages; receiving a first messagecomprising a request to associate a first device identifier and a seconddevice identifier with a common identifier; locating the first deviceidentifier within a database of device identifiers; associating thecommon identifier with the first and second device identifiers, whereinthe server system configures a first communication device associatedwith the first device identifier to communicate with the server systemusing the common identifier for a communication with a secondcommunication device associated with the second device identifier, andwherein the server system configures the second communication deviceassociated with the second device identifier to communicate with theserver system using the common identifier for a communication with thedevice associated with the first device identifier; and sending a secondmessage to the first communication device informing the firstcommunication device of the common identifier associating the first andsecond device identifiers.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingsending a third message to the second communication device informing thesecond communications device of the receipt of a communication for thesecond communication device from the first communication device.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the third message includes the commonidentifier associated with the first and second device identifiers. 4.The method claim 2, wherein the third message advises the secondcommunication device of a voice message from the first communicationdevice and the common identifier associated with the first and seconddevice identifiers.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprisingreceiving a call from the second communication device directed to thecommon identifier and playing back the voice message.
 6. The method ofclaim 2 further comprising receiving a call from the secondcommunication device directed to the common identifier and redirectingthe call to the first communication device.
 7. The method of claim 4,further comprising receiving a call from the second communication devicedirected to the common identifier and recording a voice messagetherefrom.
 8. A computing apparatus for processing communicationscomprising: a memory; at least one processor; and a storage medium, thestorage medium comprising a set of processor executable instructionsthat, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: providing a receiver identifier associated with aserver system for receiving messages; receiving a message comprising arequest to associate a first device identifier and a second deviceidentifier with a common identifier; locating the first deviceidentifier within a database of device identifiers; associating thecommon identifier with the first and second device identifiers, whereinthe processor configures a first communication device associated withthe first device identifier to communicate with the server system usingthe common identifier for a communication with a second communicationdevice associated with the second device identifier, and wherein theprocessor configures the second communication device associated with thesecond device identifier to communicate with the server system using thecommon identifier for a communication with the device associated withthe first device identifier; and sending a second message to the firstcommunication device informing the first communication device of thecommon identifier associating the first and second device identifiers.9. A method for processing communications by a server system, the serversystem comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:associating a first common identifier with a first sending deviceidentifier and a first group of receiving device identifiers, whereinthe server system configures a first sending device associated with thefirst sending device identifier to communicate, via the first commonidentifier, with at least one first receiving device associated with atleast one first receiving device identifier in the first group ofreceiving device identifiers; and associating the first commonidentifier with a second sending device identifier and a second group ofreceiving device identifiers, wherein a second sending device associatedwith the second sending device identifier is linked, via the firstcommon identifier, with at least one second receiving device associatedwith at least one second receiving device identifier in the second groupof receiving device identifiers, wherein the server system (i)configures the first sending device to communicate with the serversystem using the common identifier for a communication with the at leastone first receiving device, (ii) configures the at least one receivingdevice to communicate with the server system for a communication withthe first sending device, (iii) configures the second sending device tocommunicate with the server system using the common identifier for acommunication with the at least one second receiving device, and (iv)configures the at least one receiving device to communicate with theserver system for a communication with the first sending device.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the first group of receiving deviceidentifiers comprises a single first receiving device identifier andonly a single first receiving device is associated with the firstreceiving device identifier.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein thesecond group of receiving device identifiers comprises a single secondreceiving device identifier and only a single second receiving device isassociated with the second receiving device identifier.
 12. The methodof claim 9, further comprising associating a second common identifierwith the first sending device identifier and the at least one firstreceiving device identifier in the first group of receiving deviceidentifiers, the at least one first receiving device identifier beingassociated with the at least one first receiving device, wherein theserver system configures the first sending device to communicate, viathe second common identifier, with the at least one first receivingdevice, wherein (v) the server system configures the first sender deviceto communicate with the server system using the second common identifierfor a communication with the at least one first receiving device, and(vi) the server system configures the at least one first receiver deviceto communicate with the first sending device using the second commonidentifier for a communication with the first sending device.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the first common identifier is a localnumber with respect to the first sending device identifier and thesecond common identifier is a local number with respect to the at leastone first receiving device identifier.
 14. The method of claim 9,further comprising: receiving a message from the first sending devicecorresponding to the first common identifier; determining the at leastone first receiving device identifier, based on the first sending deviceidentifier and the first common identifier; forwarding the message tothe at least one receiving device.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinthe forwarded message lacks the first sending device identifier and anypersonal information associated therewith.
 16. A computing apparatus forprocessing communications comprising: a memory; at least one processor;and a storage medium, the storage medium comprising a set of processorexecutable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to perform operations comprising: associating a first commonidentifier with a first sending device identifier and a first group ofreceiving device identifiers, wherein the processor configures a firstsending device associated with the first sending device identifier tocommunicate, via the first common identifier, with at least one firstreceiving device associated with at least one first receiving deviceidentifier in the first group of receiving device identifiers,associating the first common identifier with a second sending deviceidentifier and a second group of receiving device identifiers, whereinthe processor configures a second sender device associated with thesecond sending device identifier to communicate, via the first commonidentifier, with at least one second receiving device associated with atleast one second receiving device identifier in the second group ofreceiving device identifiers, wherein the processor (i) configures thefirst sending device to communicate with the server system using thecommon identifier for a communication with the at least one firstreceiving device, (ii) configures the at least one receiving device tocommunicate with the server system for a communication with the firstsending device, (iii) configures the second sender device to communicatewith the server system using the common identifier for a communicationwith the at least one second receiving device, and (iv) configures theat least one receiving device to communicate with the server system fora communication with the first sending device.